NH 66 expansion work chokes Mapusa river

PANAJI: Just three months after the reclamation of the Tar river at Mapusa stoked controversy, another row has broken out over indiscriminate mud-filling at three points in the Mapusa river to facilitate expansion of NH 66.
Villagers of Guirim and Bastora have protested the rampant reclamation of the river upstream, along the 2-km stretch of road between the Guirim-Bastora junction and Bastora-Mapusa flyover junction.
The channel at the Guirim-Bastora junction has been further buried for a service road along the highway, smothering its tidal flow. Last year, a raw water pump house built partly in the waterbody had already shrunk its width.
At the third spot, near the flyover for Moira-Bastora traffic, heaps of mud have been dumped adjacent to an old pipe bridge.
Local panchayat representatives and villagers have complained to the government about the insensitive reclamation of the river. On Saturday morning, villagers discussed the issue with officials of the public works department (PWD) and others on site.
Earth-moving machinery has now been deployed at the third spot to remove the mud dumped there. A PWD official also assured villagers that mud dumped into the river at the Guirim-Bastora junction would be extracted.
“Reclamation of a once navigable river will be disastrous for its ecology. The river’s marine life and ecosystem are under severe stress,” Andrew D’Souza, convener of the Bastora village development committee said.
Villagers are worried about the inundation of low-lying areas during the monsoon. In June last year, Mapusa recorded 400mm of rain in a mere 72 hours, resulting in the flooding of the Bastora-Mapusa road and large swathes of paddy fields in Socorro. “With more damage to the river, the problem may worsen,” former Bastora panch member John Agnel Fernandes, said.